Precaution about left over onions

I have taken the idea of this post through an email which I received recently. As we try to save our time and money by reusing or recycling our food, we might use the left over onions for making food.
Are left over onions safe for reuse? The simple answer is no, left over onions are very harmful. 

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

When someone gets sick, we blame oily foods while nobody cares about the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table. Mostly when we suffer from food poisoning, we assume that it might be due to the use of mayonnaise. Usually commercially made mayonnaise is completely safe. It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary."
The pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment.

How to keep food safely to avoid the risk of food poisoning ?

People who get the food poisoning can describe how much pain and troulble they have to face during the whole period. Even after recovering from it, you need to check your food for few days. This post is about the causes which can produce poison in food and how to keep food safely to avoid risks of food poisoning.


Food poisoning is not only meant by having stomach trouble, vomating or diarrhea, it may go with fatigue, dizziness, muscle aches and nasty bouts of cramps which could take from several hours to days to appear.  Food poisoning is caused by bacteria in food which can double in number every 20 minutes at room temperature, and a few thousands to lay you low. 


You can’t see, smell, or taste them, but millions of bacteria are all around you. Most are harmless; some, like E. coli and salmonella, are a menace to your digestive system. These bugs may already be present in raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs — they thrive on protein — or you may introduce them yourself if you forget to wash your hands before handling food. They will be happy to infest any kind of food as long as it’s moist and warm enough and not too salty or acidic.


Bacteria can survive on kitchen surfaces for hours and spread to other foods that way, so keep things clean. Be especially careful to wash anything that comes in contact with raw meat or eggs before using it again. (Don’t use the same platter to carry both raw and cooked meat to and from the grill, for example.) A thorough scrubbing with hot soapy water is plenty good enough. The new antibacterial cleaners can’t do much better. And don’t forget to wash your towels often in hot water and sterilize your sponge every few days by throwing it in the dishwasher. Replace the sponge every few weeks.

Won’t cooking kill bacteria?

Cooking food to 160 degrees Fahrenheit will kill most bacteria. Some meats need to be even hotter — for example, all poultry should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. (Don’t guess by the color; use a meat thermometer.) But if the food has been at room temperature for more than two hours, bacteria may have accumulated to dangerous levels and formed heat-resistant toxins that cannot be killed by cooking. Even cooked food can become contaminated this way, so get those leftovers into the fridge as soon as you can.
Is my refrigerator cold enough?

Your fridge should be set no higher than 40 degrees F (again, use a thermometer). Cold slows down the growth of bacteria. Store leftovers in shallow containers so that they’ll cool quickly. And don’t overstuff your fridge; air has to circulate to keep the food cold. Even at this low temperature, bacteria will start to go to work on your leftovers within a few days. When in doubt, throw it out!

These tips are courtesy of ‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’, 
‘U. S. Department of Agriculture’,
‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ etc,

First published at 'factoidz': How to Keep Your Food Safely and Avoid the Risk of Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning and how to protect from it?

Food poisoning can effect any body, anytime but we can protect ourselves by learning the causes, and symptoms to fight it. You can search for the topic and get details about 'food poising' from any health related site, but this post would help you learn some basics of it, while providing some useful links to read more about the topic.

"Food poisoning is an acute gastroenteritis caused by the consumption of a food material or a drink which contains the pathogenic micro organism or their toxins or poisonous chemicals.:

A group of persons will be affected with same type of symptoms ,and they give a history of consumption of a common food before few hours.

Types of food poisoning

1) Bacterial food poisoning:

Here the micro organisms called bacteria are responsible.The food material may contain the pathogenic bacteria or their toxin and will be ingested along with the food.

2) Non bacterial food poisoning:

Due to the presence of toxic chemicals like fertilizers,insecticides,heavy metals and etc.


Bacterial food poisoning:

All bacteria are not harmful.There are some pathogenic bacteria which secrete toxins and cause clinical manifestations.These organisms enter the human body through food articles or drinks.

How food poisoning occurs:

1) Presence of bacteria in the water.

2) The raw materials for the food may contain toxins.

3) Premises where the food is prepared may contain micro organisms or toxins.

4) Food handlers may have some infectious diseases.

5) Some animals like dogs,rats may contaminate the food.

6) If prepared food is kept in the room temperature for a long time and heated again can make a chance for food poisoning.

7) Purposely some body mixing toxins in the food.


How to investigate food poisoning?

1) Examine each and every person affected.

2) Water sample should be tested.

3) Kitchen, store room and food samples should be examined.

4) The cook and food handlers should be questioned and examined.

5) Samples of vomitus and stool of all victims should be tested to identify the bacteria.


How to prevent food poisoning:-
1) Only purified water should be used.

2) Hygiene should be maintained by all persons keeping contact with food.

3) Workers should use masks, cap and gloves during cooking and serving.

4) Sick individuals should not come in contact with food materials.

5) Kitchen and premises should be neat and clean.

5) Vessels should be washed with soap and hot water.

6) Should not keep the prepared food for a long time in room temperature.

7) All food materials should be kept in closed containers.

8) Animals like dog, cat, rat etc should not come in contact with food materials.

9) Vegetables should be washed before cooking.

10) Meat should be fresh and should be purchased from recognized slaughter house.

Useful and related sites and articles:

* 'Food poisoning,causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment' from "E Medicine Health"

* Food Poisoning and Safe Food Handling